


Lapis Lazuli

by potslooshi



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Hybrid Jongin, M/M, Mentions of past abuse, Mermaid-esque but not quite, Minor Character Death, Quite Some Nudity, Some more nudity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-03-30 21:16:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19035751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potslooshi/pseuds/potslooshi
Summary: By the time fish hybrid hunting is outlawed, the species is left on the brink of extinction with no more than a few hundred alive.Kyungsoo, a biologist is tasked with capturing and transporting the hybrids to an enclosure to ensure breeding and security in captivity.Jongin, one of the few fish hybrids to remain, left sterile after one too many human encounters, doesn't trust humans and does not need their help.





	Lapis Lazuli

**Author's Note:**

>  
> 
> For the Exzoo mods.

The ocean. He could taste it. The way the grimy soot of the industrial suburbs morphed into something lighter. Saltier. He could almost hear it, the rolling waves- hidden behind the soft purring of his coupe and the rhythmic beats of a vaguely familiar song that reminded him of home.

The song itself was from one of Chanyeol’s never ending odysseys to find his style of music, the beats and intonations speaking of something that was so uniquely his. They had gotten together the previous night, Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, over condensing bottles of soju, spicy pork and mindless conversations that had seemingly, stretched on for hours. It was almost daybreak when Chanyeol had gotten up from where he was hunched, soundlessly crying over the little winding ballerina, and had handed Kyungsoo the mixtape, carefully crafted for ‘your long, empty days without us’ as he had so equivocally put it.

 

He drove steadily towards the bay, eyes sweeping over either side of the road, looking for a sign that would tell him he was heading the right way. The dilapidating street signs with their thin sheen of salt eroding away the edges, pointed to a line of small shacks down the coast catering to the occasional way ward tourist. This wasn’t a place where many frequented. The hardly worn roads with its fresh gloss of tar still intact could attest to that.

It was easy to tell when he slipped from a public road into a private one. The street lights grew taller and imposing, the tell-tale glimmer of monitored cameras blinking from the thickets. The ocean had drawn closer too, white foam lines glimmering in the faint morning light. The road had grown narrower, at the far end of which he could see wrought metal gates looming over the precinct.

In any other scenario the poorly charted place would have made him antsy. But given the location he was heading, he supposed this had to be expected. There was a certain quiet mystery in the air, almost like the soft chirping of the birds were fabricated with much precision. He pushed the thought away, slowing down the coupe and turning off the stereo as he reached the gate. The guard at the gate looked like he’d been expecting visitors, rifle slung low on his shoulders looking nonetheless menacing.

“Name and purpose” he drawled, voice thick and fatigued.

“Kyungsoo Doh, from the Seoul Marine Labs.” Short and sharp. Kyungsoo had never felt the need to prove his adroit.

The guard’s eyes widened a fraction. “Doctor Doh! We’ve been expecting you!” The reverence in his voice was palpable. So he knew. “Hold on for a moment-” Kyungsoo watched him disappear into the kiosk for a moment before the gates started split open soundlessly.  His car came to life.

 

“Take the first right at the intersection! Have a good day Doctor Doh!” the man called. Kyungsoo nodded absently, pushing the pedal down, watching as the booth grew smaller and smaller in the mirror. This part of the road was framed with large trees, the oaks and pines effectively forming a seamless barrier between the bay and the road.

He could tell it was closer though, the waves roaring around him, the smell of algae poignant. He licked his lips, freeing them of dryness, tasting the salt that had sedimented on the flesh.  He breathed it in. This was where he thrived, he could call it all by name- the ocean and everything in it.

 

He reached the intersection quicker than he’d expected, slowing down as he let the disbelief settle. The trees had parted, leaving nothing in between but the bay and the sky… He stopped the coupe, leaving Chanyeol’s mix tape on play as he walked toward the edge. The road was suspended 20 feet above the waters, supported by massive steel columns that cut through the bed rock. He watched the spray beat down on the greyish stones, wetting it thoroughly before pulling back into the ocean.

He stared at it for a long while, the reverie broken as he realized that the large mass jutting out at the distance was not a rock. He squinted through his glasses, pushing them back on the bridge of his nose as he willed the mist to clear. Heavy white concrete rose from the waters, its slabs cantilevering right into the ocean, leaving no fringe in sight. The facility.  

* * *

 

 

The driveway was short and littered with sea gravel. He pulled his coupe to the side of the facility marked ‘parking’ and got out, marveling at the movement of the structure. The form of the building was deconstructed, large concrete shells curving inwards looking as though they sprung from the ocean itself; beckoning, like the open jaws of a fish.

The light fell on the stone, illuminating it like white marble and with it, the lone figure that had stepped out from the eastern wing of the facility. Even through the haziness of his near-impaired vision, the approaching person was most certainly a woman. Women were a rare sight in such facilities, owing to the unrelenting work hours and the ethics of the work they dealt with, much of which was better left unsaid. Kyungsoo disagreed, women were made of tougher stuff than men, but activism was not taken lightly, not in places like these.

A small cough interrupted his musing.

“Dr. Doh. Welcome to the Jindo Marine facility.” her smile was bright, complementing her picturesque face. He mirrored her bow and was met with an expectant look of familiarity. She would be sorely disappointed; he was terrible at names, the trait only rivaled by his inability to remember faces.

“Kyungsoo works just fine, Ms-?”

“Joohyun” she sounded a little put off.

He chuckled, “I’m assuming I know you from somewhere, Joohyun.” She looked a little younger than he was, her clothes blending in with the whites and blues of the ocean, but not without a certain stylistic flare that the job hadn’t taken away from her. Yet. “The national university, perhaps?”

She nodded, the quick movement indicating him to follow her down the pebbled path to the eastern wing. “I attended the seminar on Artificial Reefs four years ago. It was quite visionary-”

“At that time,” he corrected gently. Now reefs were being constructed at a manic pace, unhindered by the vastness of the oceans it had to cover, as a last resort to attract the assemblage of whatever organisms remained in it's depths.

Joohyun smiled faintly, her sandals clicking against the polished tiles as they entered the building. The foyer was vast, undulating marble walls rising in all directions, the beauty in the nothingness of the space rivaled only by the massive mosaic inlaid on the floor. Ichthyodactyles. Aquatic hybrids. Intelligent. Elusive. Beautiful. Half human, half piscean creatures with, seemingly, the better characteristics of both species amalgamated into one.

The intricate motley beneath him showcased the creatures in their own oceanous habitat; leaping across the grey bedrock, breaking through the foam up into the blue skies, their webbed digits splayed onto the tiling with startling realism. His feet rested on the neck of the delineation of an ichthyodactyle; it's arms stretched out onto the great blue sea, like a plea. The face that stared at Kyungsoo had a sense of morbid sadness and longing that quickly morphed into something grimmer; far more vicious, the longer he stared. He took a step back. Suddenly the great foyer felt far from inviting.

 

“We had it remodeled last May,” Joohyun was saying, “the resemblance is quite uncanny.”

“I don't doubt it.” His eyes falling back to the mosaics swirling around him. The hybrid now looked back at him, taunting, eyes filled with contempt. “I wouldn't doubt it for a moment.”

* * *

 

 

 

He stripped methodically and climbed into the shower, ignoring the wide stretch of mirror that created the illusion of false space. Kyungsoo knew what he would see- a slight but sturdy figure, wrinkles that deepened everytime he frowned and premature greying that he choose to ignore. ‘You shouldn’t look a day older than 20 when you turn 30.’ His mother had frequently admonished, until he’d given up and shorn it all off; effectively silencing her.

 

He stepped under the shower, tasting the salt in the warmth of the water. Artificial, yet welcome. They seemed to take the ambience very seriously in the facility, everything from the vast whiteness of the great foyer to the hues of blue glistening on the ceramics as the water trickled away to the trap beneath him, mimicked the ocean. It's depth, it's mystery. They were floundering, using the subtle magnificence of the setting to divert attention from the growing chaos. But underneath the layers one could smell the rot.

The ocean was dying, the life in it ebbing away, quicker every second, taking the ichthyodactyles with it. There were a couple hundred left in the ocean, most of them housed in similar facilities, forced to breed under captivity, miles away from where they belonged. Saving the species. He stepped away from the shower, the water suddenly seeming repulsive swathed in all its luxury.

 

The housing pods in the south wing were at the farthest end of the facility. From his window, the view stretched on for miles; the ocean glittering blue and gold, serenely beautiful. He pushed back the curtains and settled under the covers.

Chanyeol picked up on the first ring. “Having fun with the manmaids, Soo?”

“Mermaids,” he corrected with a snort, pulling the duvet up to his chest. “Stop acting like you don't know what they’re called.” He could hear incessant honking on Chanyeol’s end, followed by some light swearing and then silence.

“Off to work?” The light was beginning to fill the room, bathing everything in the soft morning glow.

“I just reached. This job adds twenty years to my life every day, Soo. I’ll be dead before you know it.” Kyungsoo let him ramble about how miserable he was at his workplace. Chanyeol worked a standard 9 to 5 job at some high end corporate firm in downtown Seoul, that he hated with a passion. Something along the lines of ‘dreams’ and ‘free birds’. It was best to let Chanyeol go on about it until he tired himself out. He closed his eyes, letting Chanyeol fade off into the background.

“Hmm?”

“You’ve not been listening, have you?” his friend’s voice was bordering on whiny. “I asked you how the place was.”

The place. The Jindo marine facility, the largest in the Korean peninsula. He thought about the extravagance, and the dying creatures. The silence lingered. No doubt Chanyeol would pick up on it. “You know you just have to say the word and we’ll be there? Us, soju and the manmaids…” he trailed off, words accompanied by exaggerated sighing.

Kyungsoo chuckled and let the tension bleed from his shoulders as Chanyeol steered the conversation back to his work life, accompanied by the occasional cussing. He drifted in and out, humming when Chanyeol paused for encouragement. The disquiet was temporarily filled.

 

He woke up past noon, the midday sun relentlessly beating down on him. The bitter taste in his mouth seemed stubborn to stay, so he found himself following the detached female voice on his router down to the cafeteria. He hadn’t missed lunch, or so it seemed. The service staff seemed to be having lunch, boisterous in their merriment. He spotted a figure dressed in the standard issue laboratory garb and followed it down to the buffet line, in time to catch the trailing end of what appeared to be a scintillating conversation.

 

“-whose idea of a joke is it to keep serving fish here?” The tall laboratory man was giving a mean stink eye to the server, who shrank back muttering something incomprehensible. Kyungsoo leaned over to the salad rack. The taller man turned to look at him, dark brows scrunching up in concentration after a moment.

“Doctor Doh?”

He straightened up, trying to give a name to the face but coming up with nothing. The fresh youth was evident on the newcomer’s face, thin lips now pulled a genial smile.

“I’m Sehun.” He held out a broad hand. “You probably don't know me. I intern under Junmyeon hyung. He’s got a picture of the both of you from graduation on his desk. The man speaks of you like the second coming of Christ.”

 

Kyungsoo chuckled. Kim Junmyeon; now Dr. Kim with some impressive works to his name, then the quiet senior from university who also had a tiffin of bibimbap to go with his smile. Over the years he knew no more than the occasional hearsay of Junmyeon’s life, until the man had reached out to Kyungsoo with a potential transfer of work. “I can assure you that the last bit was nothing but an exaggeration.”

The intern picked up a protein bar and put it on a largely empty tray, with a grin“I bet he’ll be speaking in tongues the moment he sees you.” Despite the teasing, there was a certain affection held in the intern’s words. Kyungsoo smiled, taking his time to fill his tray with chicken caesar salad and extra olives.

Sehun was standing by the cafeteria doors. “I eat by the Pools Dr. Doh. It's quieter, and maybe you can meet our resident friends?”

 

The Pools. The in-house term for the huge open water enclosures that eventually met the ocean. Unlike the name suggested, the Pools were built to replicate an ichthyodactyes natural habitat in the wild. Massive stalactite caves, where sea moss grew unbidden; the water too deep for the untrained swimmer. Where Sehun’s ‘friends’ waited.

 

 

They stopped by the feeders on the way to the Pools.

“This reeks.” The room smelled like pungent, rotting fish. “Tell me they don't eat that willingly.” he said, eyeing what looked like dried worms in Sehun’s hands.

“Voluntarily, no.” But it’ll bring them to the surface.” the younger man shrugged.

Kyungsoo grimaced, but grabbed a few from the nearby tub, nonetheless. Up close they were just limp strands of bioengineered fibre. The stench was probably artificial as well, he thought, walking around eyeing the white feeder boxes interspersed with a few silver ones. The silver caught the light and scattered it like broken glass on the floors.

The silver boxes were filled with foam beads and what looked like spindly bullets, it's curving teeth glinting evilly. The tip pressed against his thumb and a bead of blood oozed out, dark and viscous.

“Sehun,” His voice was quiet. “How often are these used?”

The intern came over to where Kyungsoo stood. “Oh. Not too often. Test days aren’t exactly a piece of cake round here. Sometimes they use a little… persuasion.” Sehun trailed off, staunchly avoiding Kyungsoo’s gaze.

Who wouldn't resist subjugation? They were being forced into insentienence if the failed to remain still as their bodies went under test after test. Was this still preservation? He swallowed the thickening displeasure. Somethings were just better left unsaid.

* * *

 

 

Kyungsoo placed his tray down next to the huge wet boulder that Sehun was perched on. The Pools had a sense of raw authenticity about them. Almost like the wild ocean had risen and fallen, creating the rugged pools in it's leave. Huge grey stones rose from the waters, creating crests deep enough to hide fully grown men in it's depths. The waters reflected the clear blue of the sky, rippling in the afternoon breeze.

Sehun dropped a few ‘worms’ into the water. “They’re bound to turn up sooner or later. New blood excites them.” he said matter of factly.

 

‘Sooner or later’ was an hour later, when Kyungsoo had polished off his salad and Sehun had deemed his bar ‘vegan enough for consumption’, the gentle ripples twisted into something stronger, a few meters from where the sat. Within a matter of seconds the wavelets died down, the water stilling like there had been no disturbance prior. That was when ‘she’ emerged.

 

The ichthyodactyle emerged from the depths, the water flowing off her in rivulets. Her hair was a deep black dispersed with navy and silver, the scales that lined her throat all the way beneath her breasts were tinged with the same hue. ‘A silver-tipped shark’ Kyungsoo thought warily. Deadly beautiful predators.

She walked up to them, silver eyes flashing between the two. As she drew closer, he could make out the way her scales were sharper, their tips spiked with silver as they morphed into something akin to spines. The spines ran down her hips, over her pelvis, darkening into a brutal navy shade when it reached her legs.

 

“Hello Joy,” Sehun called, “This is Dr. Kyungsoo. He’s the one replacing old man Choi.”

‘Joy’s lips curved up wickedly as she reached Kyungsoo’s boulder, the membranous sheath covering her fingers, trailing over the rock. She lowered herself next to him, her lithe nakedness curving against his thigh, her feet surely dipped in the water. Kyungsoo was no stranger to the ichthylodactyles, but there was a certain wild viciousness in the one before him, that was so foreign.

 

“Kyung-soo” her hum was quiet, like water and sand. Seamless.

 

He eyed her unnaturally sharp canines, the way her eyes glanced at the empty tray next to him.

Sehun noticed it too, handing him his half eaten bar. Kyungsoo glanced at the ichthyodacle and slowly brought the unbitten end of the bar near her pale lips. Her silver eyes danced with mirth, teasing him, egging him to come closer. It was a game. He realized. He was right where she wanted him. Her prey.

She reached out and pulled the bar from his hand, dropping it into the water in a flash, her wet digits firmly locking his hand in place. She took his thumb in her mouth and sucked. Long and devouring. The finger that was wounded. Blood sang to sharks, he remembered, the realization dawning on him as he watched a carmine tongue lick over his wound.

Joy watched him, untamed and unpredictable, her body pressed against his. Like she could thread his thoughts, one after another. With one last feral smirk, she dropped his hand and slid back into the waters.

* * *

 

 

 

He sought out Junmyeon the next evening,  to find a frazzled looking man, trendy transparent frames perches on a sweat stained nose, looking a lot thinner than when Kyungsoo had last seen him. Junmyeon was ever the kind senior, only sans the bibimbap, when he’d handed him a gelid ice box full of live shrimp with a plea for help and a hasty promise of imported whiskey when the day was done.

“The stalactite caves south of the pools please, Kyungsoo. He’ll be around at this time. The Pterois.”

He could sense Junmyeon’s reluctance. Pteris species were nocturnal and notoriously elusive ones at that. It was a miracle they’d even found one. The bigger miracle however, Kyungsoo mused, was how they’d captured the venomous predator and lived to tell the tale.

“What’s his name?”

“We call him Kai… or Jongin” Junmyeon scoffed. “It's not like he’ll answer either way”

 

The stalactite caves were eerily horrifying, the limestone drips glowing in the state of suspension. He threaded across the eroded rocks, planting his feet firmly following a step. The shrimps had stopped clanking against the vessel a while back, which meant a necessary pick up in pace.

He stopped in front of a massive ring of caves, ignoring the water seeping into his boots as he emptied the shrimp into the water, churning it murkily. The few that were alive fled into deeper water. He didn't know why he was lingering, watching the red lights overhead cast it's reflection against the water, waiting. Gory, yet beautiful.

He would’ve missed it, had he not been so determined to stay unblinking. The fluid movements were like lightning- gone in a flash. The quick swivels of water, the undulating crests and troughs, birthing a new rhythm over and over again. Not once did Kyungsoo glimpse the creature, but eventually, the dead stillness of the water meant the shrimp were all gone. He had been standing for a while, the disappointment subduing the growing pain in his legs. He turned to leave, feeling like a petulant child, entitled and ashamed.

 

The splash cut through the air like ice. Kyungsoo stiffened. A Pterois never gave themselves away… not unless they wanted to be seen. A leap of dread coursed through him as he turned to face the creature.

The ichthylodactlye was standing under the alcove of the biggest stalactite cave, the light reflecting off the water illuminating him like a thousand stars. He stood tall and glorious, stiff black hair streaked with burnt orange and crimson. He had silverish grey markings down the side of his jaw, his neck, down to the sides of his body in dull grey splatterings, membranous fingers curled against his side. His member hung thick between strong thighs, the skin around it a dull red.

Kyungsoo averted his eyes, he felt like he was intruding, like he’d lost the privilege to see. It was the face however, that made him think of the age old tales of Medusa- creating stone men that never turned away from her. Kyungsoo was carved in stone that very instant, rooted to the spot, grey and lifeless. The pterois had a face that spoke of a terrible beauty, grey eyes and a sculpted jaw, with lips that curled up in a look that Kyungsoo hadn’t seen before. Something that was different to the easy seduction Joy had exuded.

This was nothing but cruel, cruel contempt.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello,  
> This prompt was from round 1 and it called my name, I kid you not. But somewhere in between struggling through uni and planning my time, I stopped writing and picked up only a few days ago. Hence the depressing 3.6k. But nonetheless, I’m too in love with the story to just give up right now.  
> The mods have been nothing but kind and accommodating to my sorry ass, so this fic is for them.  
> I’ve taken quite the turn from mermaids with my ichthyodactyles, but I do hope I was able to convey it realistically?  
> I’m rambling. Currently on two hours of sleep. I’ll be back to ramble some more when I’ve been fed and watered.  
> Do tell me what you liked in the comments, it’ll make my day!  
> A quick note: the word ichthyodactyle is something I made up on my own. ichthyodectes, is the closest word you’ll find on google and it’s some sort of ghastly looking fish. Ichthyo just means fish like.  
> Pterois is the lion fish! A clearfin lionfish. Very pretty, very deadly, very endangered:(  
> Maybe I’ll put up pictures when reveals are out.
> 
> Come talk to me on [Twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/potslooshi)


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